In order to accommodate 400 Indians who are stranded in Iran and are set to be evacuated, the Indian Army has set up seven new quarantine facilities.
Col. Aman Anand was quoted as saying that more citizens are expected to come back to India in the next two to three days. In order to accommodate them, new facilities at places, including Jodhpur, Jhansi, Gorakhpur, Kolkata, Jaisalmer, Chennai and Deolali, have been set up.
At present, about 265 citizens are being quarantined at the Army facilities in Manesar and Hindon. The Manesar facility was supposedly created to handle travelers coming into India from foreign countries as Manesar is closer to the Delhi airport.
Indian Army runs point
A total of 455 individuals, who have arrived from Wuhan, Japan and Italy, have been quarantined at the Army's emergency quarantine facility.
The people who are under quarantine at the facility are being closely monitored. They are asked to wear a three-layered mask at all times and they are allowed to go home only when no signs or symptoms of coronavirus are seen for 14 days. A proper medical record is sent to the district/ state surveillance units for further surveillance. In case a patient is found infected; he or she is shifted to isolation facilities.
The facility is being run by 60 personnel from the Army and according to a report; the daily expenditure to run these facilities is Rs 3.5 lakhs.
On two occasions, the Indian Air Force C-17 aircraft rescued Indian citizens from China and Iran. As many as 58 stranded Indians were on Tuesday rescued from Iran, one of the worst coronavirus-affected nations.
On Wednesday, about 80 people had arrived from Italy and they have been kept at the quarantine facility at Manesar.
The Indian Government is doing its bit to contain the virus with all state Governments preparing to handle the pandemic. PM Modi urged the citizens to not panic but take precautions through his tweet on Thursday. He had also asked all Central Government ministers to cancel travel to any foreign country for some time.
